


Arborvitae

by presentpathos



Category: Imagine Me & You (2005)
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, F/F, Friendship, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:44:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/presentpathos/pseuds/presentpathos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luce and H plant a tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arborvitae

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluflamingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluflamingo/gifts).



> This was Brit-picked free of my Canadianisms by gumbie_cat and many, many grammatical errors were corrected by siliverflight8 from #yuletide. Any awful mistakes, accidental beheadings or dead fish are entirely my fault. Except the spelling redcedar. It looks like a typo, but I assure you it is legit.

“Luce, I have a question.” H said, taking the opportunity to put her shovel down and wipe the sweat from her eyes. 

"Aren't you getting a little old for that, H?" Luce stopped digging, but didn't put her shovel aside. 

"Luce, it's an important question. I always save the important ones for you." 

Luce snorted. "That hasn't necessarily been my experience, but go ahead, ask away."

"Luce, why the bloody hell did you drag me out of bed at nine o'clock in the morning on my sixteenth birthday to dig a ruddy great hole in the hottest corner of the backyard?"

Luce smiled. "You used to be so polite, H. We got you a present that requires a large hole. That is why we're out here digging this hole. Or, I'm digging this hole. I'm not sure what you're doing. You know how a shovel works? It's not a broom, you don't just swish it around." 

H let out an outraged squeal before picking up her shovel and redoubling her efforts. It took her about five minutes of solid effort to realise that Luce hadn't rejoined her. "Excuse me, Luce, I can't help but noticing you're not shovelling."

"Well," Luce paused to take a drink of cider from her can. "We had a big enough hole about five minutes ago. Which I was going to tell you; but you seemed so enthusiastic about it."

"Luce?" 

"Yes, H?"

"You're not a nice lady, Luce."

"I've been told that, H. Never really believed it though."

They could've kept going. The rhythm of question, answer, joke, question, joke, answer ( _ad infinitum_ as Ned would say) had long been established as their primary role of communication. And it had been true, Luce realized as she watched her young sister-in-law collapse on the grass; she had always come to Luce with her important questions. Before she could say anything further they heard a car horn honk from the driveway. 

"That'll be it then."

H's eyes lit up and she leapt to her feet. "You let Rachel drive it here? Must not be fragile." She tore off around the house to see what required such a large hole. 

Luce took her time. She made habit of taking her time now. It was a thing she could do. 

"LUCE!" she heard H shout from the front yard. "What the fu— what on Earth is it?" 

Luce rounded the corner to see H and Rachel struggling to lift the tree from the back of Rachel's hand-me-down Range Rover while Amelia danced excitedly in the background. 

"It's a western redcedar." No one looked particularly impressed. "It's from Canada." Still nothing. "I had it _shipped here_. 

H couldn't keep the slightly disappointed, totally mystified look from her face completely; Luce saw it just for a flash before she hid it under a thick layer of false enthusiasm. "Well, it's delightful. Really, you guys. I love it. Don't you love it, Amelia?"

"I don't think so. It's rather plain, isn't it?"

Rachel laughed. "It's not flowers, darling. It's a tree. It means something to your mother." She reached down and plucked Amelia from the ground. "Now what do you say we go see Grandma and grandpa while Mum and H plant the tree, okay?"

"Is there cake?" Amelia demanded. "Grandma makes the most delicious cakes."

Luce and H watched them enter the house before turning and staring at the tree. 

"Don't see why she couldn't have driven it around the back before we took it out," H said. 

"I asked her to," Luce told her. "If it was in the back Amelia would have wanted to stay and help and inevitably get filthy and then your mother and Rachel would start in on me."

H winced. "You do seem to get an awful lot of that." 

"I do, but I don't mind. I never have."

“You're a good person, Luce.” H paused. She wanted to say things to this woman, things that weren't easy to say, but they were alone so rarely and she was nearly an adult now, so she hadwanted to say them. “I didn't get that for a long time.” 

Luce looked at her over the branches of the tree as they bent to lift it. “It couldn't have been easy for you, what happened with Rachel and me. I know you loved Heck.”

“It wasn't, and I did. Do, I guess, it's not like he's dead.” She grinned. “He probably should be though, the nutter. Anyway, it wasn't fair to you, I know I was just a kid but I was your friend and I turned on you just as fast as Sally turned on me after I told her I was bi. So I'm sorry.” 

By the time she finished talking, H noticed they were back at the hole. Luce counted to three and they dropped the tree in, breathing loud sighs of relief to let it go.

“People don't make it easy for you, do they, H?”

“How'd you mean?”

Luce picked up her shovel and started moving dirt into the spaces in the hole not filled by tree roots. “Just that people have always expected you to shut your mouth and go along. Like Rachel did. Still does, to some extent. Anyway, you were a good kid, I knew you'd come around. You're a great young woman too, don't think we haven't noticed.”

H grinned. “Don't suppose you know any young women might've noticed too, do you?” she asked. 

“I'm afraid your sister and I don't keep the company of women of an appropriate age for you.” Luce answered. 

“Thought not.” The tree was planted, which made H feel a surprising sense of accomplishment. 

“Well, look at that. Come on then you, old bat, if we don't get in there Amelia will turn into one of those rage zombies from that movie Edie scarred me with.”

Luce tossed her head back and laughed. “That's a terrible thing to say about your only niece!”

“You know the other day while I was babysitting? When you and Rachel were out for dinner? You know she asked me why the sky was blue?”

“Oh, yes, I did know that. I don't have a blasted clue why the sky is blue, so I passed it off,” Luce answered, turning to look at H with a wicked grin. “Did you?”

H laughed and Luce joined in, and together they laughed their way back to the Rover to put the shovels in the boot. 

H looked over at Luce as she smiled into the middle distance. "Hey, Luce?"

"Yes, H?"

"What's it mean? The western redcedar?"

Luce smiled. "Well I'm glad you asked." She pulled the rear gate of the Rover down, sat and gestured for H to join her. "The western redcedar is a member of the arborvitae family. The arborvitae, which is Latin for tree of life, are a symbol of everlasting friendship."

H turned and stared at her sister-in-law as she smiled back at her. 

"Happy birthday, H."


End file.
